The present invention relates generally to automotive vehicle trunk decklid latch system, and more particularly to decklid latch systems releasable from within the trunk.
It is well known for automotive vehicles to have an enclosed storage space, or trunk, usually at a rear portion of the vehicle. Typically, the trunk has a decklid which can be moved between an open position allowing access to the trunk and a closed position latched to a rear wall of the body structure.
It has been an accepted practice, both in the automotive industry and generally within society, to provide means for unlatching the decklid exteriorly from the trunk. That is, the trunk usually can be opened only through use of a key into the trunk lock from outside the trunk or by using a remote trunk latch actuator. Recently, however, it has been found desirable to have a mechanism for unlatching the decklid from within the trunk.
Various devices are known in the art permitting a decklid to be unlatched from within the trunk, including U.S. Pat. No. 4,080,812, (Knott), U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,909 (McGhee), U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,326 (Fero et al), Korean application 95-17630, and Korean application 98-2580. While these devices may allow the decklid to be unlatched from within the trunk, they do nothing to assist in preventing the decklid from being latched from within the trunk in the first place. Further, these devices do not optimally present the release mechanism to a person enclosed in the trunk.
The present invention addresses the deficiencies in the prior art by providing a trunk latch system with a handle presented from the decklid within the trunk in substantially vertical fashion and operative to move the latch to the unlatched position when grasped and pulled in a generally downward direction to prevent the decklid from latching to the rear trunk wall, and to unlatch the decklid from the rear trunk wall when latched thereto.
An advantage of the present invention is a trunk latch system for an automotive vehicle which may not be latched by grasping and pulling downward on a handle presented from an inner surface of the decklid.
Another advantage of the present invention is a trunk latch system which allows release of the latch from within the trunk when the decklid is in a closed position.